


Nightmares of Power and Courage

by Wisetypewriter



Series: Linked Universe stuff [2]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Angsty battles, Disaster dominoes, Everyone else doing their best not to die, Gen, Guess who, It was luck of the draw!, Not the fatal version though, One instance of swearing, POV Alternating, Self-Sacrifice, Sky being a certified badass, Time being traumatized, Twilight being a bit of an idiot, Wind isn't there for much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21766189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wisetypewriter/pseuds/Wisetypewriter
Summary: Time's greatest fear, traveling with alternate versions of himself through time and space, was that there would be a challenge none of them could overcome. That it would come down to their lives and he would have to put on the mask.His imagination, he finds out, was rather lacking.
Relationships: Time & Twilight (Linked Universe), Twilight & Wild (Linked Universe)
Series: Linked Universe stuff [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599469
Comments: 23
Kudos: 514





	Nightmares of Power and Courage

Wild's Hyrule, Twilight thought, is both a land of marvels and horrors. A fact he knows better than most. He's trotted through those lands as a travel companion for his wayward cub, and trust him when he says, the others have not even _begun_ to fathom the depths of madness Wild can sink to when given a long enough leash.

Not that anyone could blame Wild. His Hyrule was a place devastated by a curse unlike any other. It reminds him of the stories Sky sometimes tell, of the land below the clouds and the widespread destruction of the demon king's army. And like Sky's Hyrule, Wild's can be breathtaking.

Wild's monsters, however, are universally agreed to be absolutely bullshit and, as a farmer, those are words lightly used. Monsters as challenging as bosses roam the land or lie in wait to spring a trap instead of sitting in a dungeon to be battled at a hero's convenience. Twilight is intimately aware of all this, having roamed this land the longest, before he even met most of his current companions.

The others have learned to despise few things as much as guardians and lynels.

Which brings Twilight to their current enemy and the disaster that is their current encounter.

A Hylia-damned **gold** **lynel**. And some shock troops.

They could be facing Ganondorf for all the difference it would make.

It began when three arrows nailed Wind from behind a rock formation too tall to see past.

( _He should have been scouting, so stupid, he never allowed himself to make that mistake the first time around, his wolf senses would have noticed the lynel's musk, why did he keep it a secret?_ )

Wild had been the one to shout “Lynel!” even as Warriors lunged to shield Wind from another volley. It worked, but Wind was already down. Four hurried to bless him with a fairy even as Hyrule tried his best to stabilize Wind with his healing magic.

Then, the pair of silver moblins had jumped out of the cover of darkness and things had only grown worse from there. Lizalfos jumped out of the lake, cutting any retreat from the lynel that charged them, flanked by a small mob of bokoblins.

Warriors had taken the lead, being the most experienced in war-zones where allies's movements needed to be taken into account as much as one's enemies. Together with Legend, they had cut off the lizalfos' path with a wall of flames and bottleneck their opponents into something more manageable.

Everything happens too fast after that. The cub shouts a challenge to the lynel, smashing his sword against his shield to attract more attention. And flips over a swing of a club that would decapitate him. The others rally.

They fight the infected.

In truth, Twilight's not sure when it all crumbled into pieces.

Just that, one moment he is slicing through a moblin's collarbone and the next, he sees Time being flung backward by a shock arrow. Spasms travel down his mentor's arms, and his sword and shield dropped out of his seizing fingers.

That's not an opportunity any monster hooked up on black blood would miss. A scorched lizalfos breaks through the lines and lunges with its spear. “TIME!” Twilight shouts, hoarse, and his mentor jerks upright just in time to redirect the blow into his shoulder instead of his face.

Twilight bashes a bokoblin with his shield, trying to push through the line of monsters. Pain explodes in his left shoulder blade, and he whirls around to slash the other bokoblin away. Time, he's got to help Time!

_He can't lose anyone else._

Time's face twists with anger, and his mouth moves quietly, any word swallowed by the battlefield.

What isn't however is the dome of flame that engulfs Time and the lizalfos. It's a moment of flashfire, barely noticeable in the melee, but the lizalfos collapses, burnt black, and Time's face is ashen.

His one good eye skid over to Twilight, panic starting to swell past all Time's barriers, and it whips Twilight's blood into ice. Time's eye roll backward. He falls forward.

_Pops._

He stumbles over the corpse of a moblin, hissing as he lands on his bad side and just pushes past.

The raging battle seems to slow down to a standstill. Time's bags have spilled around him, scattering his items on the ground, including some he never let any of the others see.

But he knows. Twilight might be the only one that knows, though he's caught the odd looks Warriors sometimes gives Time's facial marking. Lines of red and lines of blue, the same as those on _this_ thing.

_(Same as the markings on his forehead, it's no wonder the old man realized right away, but the others…)_

Four is… ( _he's not hallucinating_ ) four different versions of himself, two around the fallen Wind to guard Hyrule whilst he repairs the last of the damage, the other two trying to make a break for Warriors, Wild and Sky struggling with that thrice-cursed Lynel. They need the help.

Sky blocks a hit that he couldn't dodge, and Twilight winces in sympathy. Anything but the Hylian shield would have broken from that hit alone.

Time needs the help too. Hyrule and the two Fours are slowing down against the horde of bokoblins. They can't move or Wind's dead.

What other choice does he have? He knows Time would make the same call, for all that he fears and despises this power in turn. Twilight sympathizes with that sentiment, at least.

It wouldn't be the first time he was cursed into some other form.

Wolfie wouldn't be very helpful at this point. Maybe if he'd done it before the fight, if he had managed to keep the lynel focused entirely on _him_ as he weaved through the slashes and fireballs, maybe if it had been just him and the cub like old times...

Useless what-ifs. The others are being overwhelmed by the lynel. It won't be long before one of them makes a mistake. Before one of them takes the wrong hit and the adventure ends here and there.

Might have already happened.

Twilight is anything but scared when he takes Time's most powerful item for himself. He's worried, yes, mostly about being too late, but himself? That's a fair price to pay for his cub, for his pops, for his brothers. Turning into a monster is not half as hateful as watching any of them die.

 _Ah,_ he thinks moments before the mask fuses with his flesh, _was it like this for Midna too?_

***

Time awakes to the wispy glow of Hyrule's magic.

He's far too experienced with battles to let his mind wander through fogs. He shoots straight into awareness. The ambush. The boys.

The quiet is almost dizzying after the roaring and splattering. They've triumphed, it would seem. Else Hyrule wouldn't look nearly as put together as he does now. He had gotten to learn their tells. The battle had ended, but Hyrule still felt the need to tend to the others. They might need to visit a fairy fountain once they were all able to walk.

For such a large beast, the lynel could move lightning fast. And aim a shot like Wild. The arrow had flown right under a bokoblin's chin and into his blind spot. The electricity had locked his muscles in places at just the wrong time. Ten years ago, he could have shrugged it off. A bitter taste fills his mouth at the realization. Of all times for the jokes the boys make about his age to come true.

The thought rings in his head, and he turns his head to try and catch a glimpse of the others. He remembers, roughly where the boys had been before he'd lost consciousness. First, the lynel itself, that accursed beast, the most dangerous they'd faced yet-

His guts twist as if Twinrova had cursed them into liquid ice.

Time's worst nightmare stands right besides the fresh lynel corpse. Guts have spilled on the nightmare's boots, though its attention is currently occupied by a rattled, kneeling Warriors. Their knightly captain's green face speaks loudly, the flourish and courtly manners of his ranks barely masking the tension that keeps his muscle tense as a bowstring.

The haze of pain is slow to fade, and his thoughts are still jumbled by panic, but Time remembers the campaign he'd gone onto as a child. He hadn't thought as much about using the mask back then. Warriors knows. He's seen the power of that transformation.

"-can only hope to be appropriately grateful, Fierce Deity."

Time starts to stand. He pushes back the memories of battlefields, the slowly creeping bloodlust that hadn't been his. The struggle to peel off a layer of skin off his face before it was too late.

_The markings he saw the next morning, in the mirror, and the panic he'd only overcome by hearing Malon's voice._

Time mumbles a 'thank you' to Hyrule and sends him on the way to heal Sky. Legend's chugging potions, his face dark with disgust and anger. Four's still tending to Wind. Wild is watching the deity with a green face, fingers not letting go of the arrow he notched in his bow.

Where's...?

Majora must be laughing beyond the grave (if such a demon could even pass on). Hadn't it made a fine gift?

It's not his nightmare come to life. It's worse.

Time cannot recognize his own deformed reflection in the silvery giant before him. The armor is looser, centered on his shoulders and hips, padded with white fur from beasts Time does not know. Would not care to know, judging by the row of fangs as long as his hands that adorn his hips. The Fierce Deity's blank eyes look through the top half of a wolf's skull. The blue and red markings are painted on bone and flesh this time around, swirling down his exposed chest alongside some familiar scars.

 _'Pup'_ echoes through his mind as he stares, stricken by horror.

The deity senses his eyes on him, and turns. Time stands on sheer reflex and moves in front of Hyrule. He can't let it take another one of the boys, any of them.

_(it's wrong)_

_(he can see the pup's build, amplified by that accursed mask)_

**"My old vessel."**

He can hear Twilight speaks under the echoes and the rumblings of power. He hates it.

**"Had you not hesitated so uselessly, this one would not have needed to be involved."**

Time's hands fumble for his sword, which he realizes still lies down in the bloody mud. Too far for him to grasp it without the deity realizing his intentions.

 **"One of your blood. A warrior's descendant."** Lips curdle, revealing the fangs of a beast. **"A farmer. You've betrayed your nature, Hero of Time, to lay with a peace-loving farmer and corrupted your lineage!"**

Time bites down on his tongue. Malon? His wife? His playful, feisty redhead gal? That monster dares insult Malon and Twilight in the same breath?!

 _Don't lose your head._ Hyrule is right behind him, nervously clinging to his magical sword. He himself only has his shield. This is too delicate to screw up.

“ **No matter, I suppose,** ” the Fierce Deity concedes with an almost hylian shrug. “ **The Golden Goddesses awakened his warrior's blood and corrected your mistakes.** ”

There's something in the way it's said. ‘Fierce’ tumbles down from his mind. It's not the right way to describe this monster. It's Savage. Looking at it now, all he can see if the thirst, the restrained twitches that go through the deity's body as it walks through the gore of the monsters it slaughtered. Time had only ever caught glimpses of it, in the end, when the fog had lifted and he'd tried to throw the mask in a river.

“You've had your fill,” he attempts to bargain. “Let my descendant go.”

“ **But what of the others? Are they worthy? Are they warriors?”** The Savage Deity wonders slowly lifting his twisted weapon above his head. **“I will not let the Blood of the Hero be corrupted again!”**

Time hasn't prayed in years, hasn't recovered the strength to look at the goddesses with anything other than a dull resentment. Yet in the few seconds he takes to lunge between his pup and the rest of the boys, his heart screams.

"Nayru!"

***

Sparks with a faint blue shine erupt between the double-helix sword and the wall of shimmering light Time conjured. The hit is so violent they feel the air and ground around the barrier tremble, and the sensation resonates up to Hyrule's bones.

Then, the assault resumes.

Hyrule's hands tremble, glowing red as he desperately tries to close Legend's leg wounds before Time's protection runs out. Time's mouth is twisted in a snarl so hateful it wouldn't look out of place on Ganon. Beyond that, however, Time's skin has not regained its colors yet, and little beads of sweat start dripping off the sides of his head.

For now, the protection holds.

The monster possessing Twilight's body is growing frustrated. It had not expected the blessing to hold. What kind of demon _expects_ to be able to shatter a divine blessing that easily?

They're – well, not screwed because frankly, that is the sort of surprises Hyrule is used to, and they're all heroes – going to put some effort into this. Legend's chugging potions and Four's is knitting the hole in his sides. At any other time, Hyrule might have protested the sloppy work, but he's probably dishonoring his fae ancestors with his spellcasting so he hasn't got the room to criticizes.

A plan. They have to improvise a plan, right now, and it better be so good not even Legend could snark about it.

( _such a plan likely does not exist, even in the hypothetical_ )

But as he scans his surroundings for anything in the terrain that could bolster their chances, Hyrule realizes that Time's spell isn't covering one of them. Wide eyes, he catches a glimpse of blue behind a moblin's carcass.

Warriors is sneaking behind the deity, a pair of massive gauntlets covering his hands and arms right up to his elbows. Strength enhancing equipment. Who knows how well that would hold up against Twilight's freakish farmer muscles hooked up on divine juice, but it's the best they got. Hyrule's made far worse work before. He can gamble on that.

It's unlikely the deity won't notice Warriors even as it chains the hits against Time's barriers. Not unless something distracts it first. So Hyrule sucks it up and reaches deep down for the wells of power he holds and starts whispering frantically.

Static dances on his tunic. Little shocks zap Wild's and Legend's, the two of them tensing. Even the deity notices, the wolf head tilted in a show of curiosity. It _did_ want them to prove their worth, didn't it?

Fine. If it wanted the full might of seven heroes, they will deliver.

Both hands alight with magic, Hyrule throws his arms to the sky and bellows. “THUNDER!”

Lightning fills the hills.

The deity's silhouette has only just been engulfed by light that Warriors charges with the clear intent to restrain the monster having taken over Twilight's body. The afterimage, the shadow burned on their retina, is still there, when the deity's blade strikes.

Warriors' thrown back twenty feet, and he lands harshly against the armored remains of a lizalfos. Hyrule hears the air leave his lungs. Warriors' wheezing, holding his midsections. Winded.

The Savage Deity laughs, the fur it wears barely singed.

***

Time's protection spell winks out.

Wild _rushes_.

Of all of them, only Sky could claim faster swordsmanship once Wild focused.

Steel cuts through the air in a blur of grey, Wild's very arms too fast for their eyes to follow.

The Savage Deity whirls around and blocks every swing with contemptuous ease. The blades shout with every clash, feeling as thunderous to their ears as Hyrule's spell.

“ **Hylia corrected her mistakes with you, Hero of the Wild,** ” the Savage Deity praises, a softness to his voice that reminds them too much of Twilight.

Wild's next blow misses badly.

The hint of fondness evaporates, either a ruse or disdain at the moment of weakness. Wild overextended. It’s a fatal mistake.

But the edge of the Master Sword slices right along the lines of the red markings on the Savage Deity's face, startling them both.

Of all of them, Sky _is_ the fastest and deadliest swordsman.

" **What's this?** " the deity asks in wonder, dabbing the bleeding cut and looking at his fingers. **“A worthy opponent, at last? One that does not tremble before my might?”**

"I've faced a god before," Sky spits, already breathing heavily. “He's gone now.”

He's favoring his left side. The bandages on the left are speckled with blots of red.

The double-helix comes down like a butcher's blade and locks against the Master Sword's handle.

“ **Demise's killer?** ” the deity chuckles, looming over Sky's sword. “ **Yes, I can feel his presence within that blade. Will he break free if I shatter your sword?** ”

The next strike threatens to render his left arm numb. Every blow pushes him back, and Sky's only too aware that the deity's moving the fight closer to the others. What can he do?! 

A streak of silver nearly pierces his opponent's arm. The arrow bounces off the double-helix sword instead, but it's breathing room.

Four's boomerang flies inches away from the deity's nose, where he had merely tilted his head away from the trajectory. Time's hookshot lands right on his shoulder pads and throws off his swing completely.

Furious light comes ablaze behind the wolf skull's eye sockets. Sky briefly feels like he's back in the sacred realm, his opponent and black giant with flames for hair, and he braces himself.

"Leave my brother alone!" Wild shouts at the top of his lung, hurtling a club as large as Twilight himself.

The block of solid stone _winces_ as it comes to a halt right against the monster’s palm. Cracks spread from the point of impact, wider, and the weapon explodes in sparks of light. 

" **You may share his fate,** " the deity growls, breaking a necklace from his collar and throwing it at Wild.

(it's a small thing, a carved rock, tribal-looking)

Shadows swallow Wild's form as he cries out in pain and falls back. Wild's silhouette changes, his voices cuts off, and by all the love of Hylia, Sky is dying to know what happened to Wild, but he knows even a second's worth of distraction will turn the table. 

He's ready, but it's not enough.

His block is too shallow. The hit resonates in his hands and Fi slips away. He barely pulls back from the swing, hearing the fabric of his tunic tear from the sheer strength of the air displaced. The Savage Deity is pushing through, and Sky's fatigue crashes on him. He can't dodge. He doesn't have the time. His whole right side burns with every movement and the deity _knows_ it.

With a snarl of a grin beneath the wolf's skull, he twirls in place, performing a move known to all Heroes. A great spin, to compound his superiority.

Cold air washes over his neck, the blade inches away from his skin.

The Savage Deity's muscles are locked into place, his jaw clenching and his right arm holding back the left.

“ **S** t **o** p…” he says through gritted fangs. “ **P** l **e** a **s** e.”

_Twilight._

"Sky!" Legend calls out. “Sword!”

It's blind faith. He can't turn around fast enough. He just holds out his hand in the exact pose he's always done, and he prays to Hylia, prays to the Golden Goddesses, prays that his brother-in-arm's aim is true. He's already moving before he feels the weight of the handle land against his palm, and in the same breath, the demon took back control of its limbs. The helix blades resume their swing, lightning fast.

But Sky is faster. Gleaming sword in hand, he ducks right under his opponent's guards.

If this fails, Sky already knows that he will leave the group, seek his Zelda one last time, then… repent.

The tip of the Golden Master Sword shoots upward and strikes _precisely_ at the tip of the Savage Deity's chin. He doesn't hear the others shout in horror, outrage, fear. He is praying still.

Light arises along the edge of the sword and shoots to the sky, blinding them all.

Twilight falls back, a shallow cut on his chin bleeding, but otherwise himself, whole and unharmed.

A mask frighteningly similar to Time's own face clattered in the grass at his feet.

Nobody speaks.

It's over, they all know.

It's over, and they're alive, and that ought to be enough for just a moment.

The urge to laugh bubbles up in his stomach, sweat rolls off his brows and his sides and he _hurts_ everywhere, but Twilight is back and nobody's dead and he isn't moving for another year. Surely, he can have a minute of peace to gather his spirit back, right?

“Why did you have that fucking mask in your arsenal?!” Legend rounds up on Time, looking ready to punch their unofficial leader right in the face.

 _Maybe not_ , Sky mourns.

Time swallows, unable to meet their eyes at all. “I… ”

“Don't… ” Twilight's hoarse voice cuts off with a coughing fit. “It was me. I knew what it might do.”

“So did I,” Warriors say, casting a meaningful look at Time. “Although, it never seemed to end _this_ way before.”

Time sighs and he looks ready to fall asleep right there and then. Hyrule healed him, but the use of his protection spell probably drained him out of what little he'd recovered. “I can't get rid of it. I tried.”

Legend's eyebrows twitch. “Well, I'm feeling like giving it a shot too now. I know a few places where we could dump it. Or smash it.”

Sky is torn between agreeing and wanting to comfort Time. Especially when he shakes his head and gives Legend a defeated look.

“I wasn't born with those markings.” He points to the tattoos on his face. Yeah, Sky can't imagine those would have been intentional, after meeting the deity in question. “It's a claim.”

Legend's mouth clamps shut. Twilight looks _gutted_.

“Oi, pup,” Time says, reaching to ruffle his protege's hair, “don't look like that. Even if I could, I wouldn't leave that thing lying around anyway. Too dangerous.”

Sky glances at the others, and he sees the same sort of determination he feels. Tonight, he's probably going to have a long chat with Fi. If anyone knew a way to free Time of that, the spirit of the Master Sword sounds like the right place to start.

A confused bark makes him jolt, and he notices a coyote with badly patched fur on one side making its way to them. Where did that little fellow come from? With all the noise, Sky thought any animal would have burrowed or fled long ago.

“… That's Wild,” Time explains and Sky blinks. The deity turned him into a coyote?

Right. How is that sharing Twilight's fate? He's missing something very obvious. It's not usually a bothersome feeling, because Sky likes going with the flow, but he's making an exception today.

(Defeating another god, one that Time had hidden in his bags, counts as a notable enough feat that he is allowed to be a bit more demanding, he thinks.)

Wild yips, frowning at Twilight's smirk.

“Sorry, cub, I don't think I can teach you in just a minute.” He turns to the rest of them and holds out his hand. “I'm gonna need the Master Sword. It breaks that curse pretty easily.”

Sky hands it over. Which reminds him to go fetch the one he lost during the fighting. Though… he will do that _after_ he's finally got his breath back.

As predicted, mere contact with the sacred blade forces the shadows out of Wild's body, and their amnesiac brother is back to hylian form, albeit on all four.

Before anything else, Twilight carefully pockets the stone inside a pouch and slips it under his chain mail.

Oh. Well, that explains a few things. Huh.

“So, the wolf is out of the bag, I guess,” Four says, one person again, and it sounds forced. Trying to hold the peace or getting something normal back.

“Why am I not a wolf too?” Wild pouts at his big brother figure, looking innately annoyed at not being cursed _properly_.

“Beats me, cub. It's probably your inner gremlin interfering,” he says, grabbing Wild and rubbing his knuckles over his head.

“Why you…”

The two devolve into play-fighting immediately, and normally such endeavors end with Twilight's quick, overwhelming victory, but everyone is exhausted and likely injured.

“One instant please,” Warriors calmly pulls them apart, and wow, Sky is impressed by his calm. Warriors, outside of combat situation, _is_ prone to overreactions. “I want to properly reiterates what we just learned. YOU'RE WOLFIE?!”

There it is.

“I can't believe I missed that! It's so obvious in hindsight.” Legend groans, massaging his forehead and mumbling something suspiciously like 'why the hell is _he_ not pink?'

“I thought Wolfie had a weird magical signature,” Hyrule muses.

Twilight hums, a faint ghost of a smile on his face. “Don't worry, your secrets are safe with me.”

No less than four Links pale at that, mostly because the fifth one just woke up and his frustration suddenly finds a medium of expression.

“The fuck happened after I was shot?!” Wind explodes.

**Author's Note:**

> Whelp, that was a hell lot harder than it needed to be. Couldn't quite fit all that fitted in there, but there's only so many times one can try-not-to-die (TM) before it starts failing. 
> 
> Anywho, a couple of people have written about Time being forced to put that mask back on. Or Twilight or one of the others being overwhelmed by dark magic. But why keep to their respective powerset when you crossover the heroes? So, yeah, Twilight with the Fierce Deity. I'm not sure I could have made it worse for Time if I tried. Wind, maybe? 
> 
> Well, Wind was the unfortunate soul that got sniped by the lynel, sooooo. 
> 
> Right, anyway, headcanon time: I read not too long ago about someone's theory that the Fierce Deity belongs to another trinity between Hylia, Demise and itself. So, my take is that with Demise sealed and Hylia incarnated, the Fierce Deity went berserk, completely unbalanced and had to be sealed away in the mask. It has an important link (eh) to the hero's spirit, but it's also a bit nuts.


End file.
